Issue 100 - 100 Greatest Whisky People

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100 Greatest Whisky People

We highlight the people who have left a lasting legacy on the whisky world over the years.

Delving back in to whisky's glorious past, Gavin D. Smith and Ian Buxton bring you the people who have made a lasting mark and created a legacy still felt today.

These are the movers and shakers, the visionaries, the engineers and the designers who all left their mark on the industry.

CANADA

Samuel Bronfman
Samuel Bronfman was born in what is now Moldova in 1889. His family migrated to Canada and Samuel went on to found the Distillers Corporation, which acquired Joseph E Seagram & Sons in 1928. He renamed the company Seagram Co Ltd, and built up a vast drinks empire across several countries.

Joseph Hobbs
A colourful character born in Hampshire, England. In 1891, Hobbs migrated with his parents to Canada in 1900. He made a fortune but lost it during the Great Depression, going on to develop distilling interests in Scotland, where, among other distilleries, he owned Fort William from 1944 until his death 20 years later.

Hiram Walker
Born in New England in 1816, Hiram Walker first made whiskey in 1854, subsequently migrating from Detroit to Canada, where he built a distillery and developed an associated community called Walkerville. Hiram Walker established Canadian Club as the first Canadian brand of whisky to be marketed on a global basis.

IRELAND

Samuel Boyd
Bushmills owes much of its long term prosperity to Belfast wine and spirits merchant Samuel Boyd, who acquired the County Antrim distillery from the official receiver around 1923. A few years later, the busi...